The invention relates to a wireless network that includes multiple Clients, which can communicate using radio waves.
Networks that have several Clients that can communicate with each other are generally well-known. The Clients can be arranged within the network into different logical structures, whereby the Clients can be arranged in the form of a tree structure. In a tree structure where a Client is at the top, the other Clients can attach to this Client. The Client that is at the top of the tree structure is a part of an upper, first network level, where Clients that are directly connected with that Client belong to a second network level subordinate to the first network level, and where subsequent Clients that are directly connected to the latter Clients are part of a third network level subordinate to the second network level, and so on. In a tree structure, only connections between Clients at adjacent network levels are allowed. Connections within a network level are prohibited. Furthermore, a Client, with the exception of Clients at the top of the tree structure, is connected with only one Client in an adjacent higher network level. In addition, several Clients in a subordinate network level may be connected to an adjacent higher network level through a single Client.
The Clients of a network are also referred to as “network nodes” or “nodes”. Furthermore, a distinction is made, depending on the function of the Client, between Master-Clients, Repeater-Slave-Clients and Slave-Clients. The Master-Client is the central point of the network. Initialization and network-specific functions are performed by the Master-Client. Without a Master-Client, the network is not functional. In a tree structure, the Client at the top is a Master-Client. A Repeater-Slave-Client has the function of forwarding messages between neighboring Clients. A Slave-Client does not forward any messages. Slave-Clients are always endpoints of the network.
Wireless networks that have a supervisory control, which collects data from individual Clients in the wireless network and distributes data to Clients on the wireless network, are well-known. Such a higher-level control could be, for example, an SPS (Storage Programmable Control)-control, which is connected to a Master-Client of the wireless network, for example, via a data interface. In particular, the exchange of data, in which a Client makes the wireless network available and in which the other Clients require the wireless network, occurs via this supervisory control.
Such a structure of a wireless network requires the user to create a special controller program, which performs the operation of collecting and distributing data. Since there are different controls with different programming environments, for example, KOP, FPS, FUP, AWL, or even controls based on higher-level languages, such as C or C++, it is often difficult as well as costly for the user to implement a data exchange between the Clients of the wireless network.